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To: Jim McMannis who wrote (119096)	11/24/2000 1:03:40 AM
From: deibutfeif	Respond to of 186894

Fla. High Court Rejects Gore's Recount Petition washingtonpost.com By Linda Deutsch AP Special Correspondent Thursday, November 23, 2000; 3:03 PM TALLAHASSEE, Fla.–– The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday refused to order Miami-Dade County officials to resume a handcount of presidential election ballots, dealing a blow to Al Gore's efforts to cut into George W. Bush's lead in the state. Gore had asked the court in an emergency Thanksgiving Day appeal to restart ballot counting in the county, which they said was "being frustrated by a deliberate campaign of delay and intimidation of local officials." "The writ is denied without prejudice. No motion for rehearing is allowed," the court said in a statement read by spokesman Craig Waters. The court's action means the lawyers can refile on different legal grounds or can take their case to another court. The justices conferred by conference call, interrupting their Thanksgiving holiday to consider the petition by the Democratic presidential candidate. Miami-Dade, the largest county in the state, suspended a full manual recount after the Florida court set a Sunday deadline for counties to report adjusted vote totals. Requesting court action, Gore's campaign said in its filing, "Determining the will of the voters cannot be frustrated by the whim of local officials." Bush campaign spokeswoman Mindy Tucker brushed off the Gore appeal. "The court has already extended the statutory deadline for an additional 12 days, and now Al Gore wants them to extend it yet again. It seems Al Gore wants the court to keep extending the deadline until he can count the votes enough times to change the result." The Gore filing came the morning after Bush lawyers moved on another legal front, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Florida Supreme Court and bar the use of hand counted ballots. "The outcome of the election for the presidency of the United States may hang in the balance," the Bush lawyers said in urging the high court to take up what it said is essentially a state issue. Miami-Dade Canvassing board officials made the stunning announcement Wednesday that it was impossible to complete their task by the Sunday deadline set by the Florida court and they were abandoning counting altogether. Gore's brief had suggested that the court consider giving that county an extension of time if a full recount could not be completed by the deadline. "If no action is taken," the brief said, "the Miami-Dade Board would be allowed to achieve what this court, just two days ago, held that the secretary of state could not do: reject the ballots of thousands of Floridians for reasons of mere administrative convenience." The 29-page Gore brief alleged that that board members were intimidated by an escalating campaign of intimidation, which began with personal attacks at board members and election personnel. "Scores of noisy demonstrators engulfed the counting floors. Many were yelling and some pounding on the doors and windows in close proximity to the election department's staff," the brief said. "Democratic personnel were physically assaulted within yards of the vote counting while in the lobby below prominent Republicans launched vituperative attacks on the Canvassing Board members and its staff." The importance of the hand recount in Miami-Dade was indicated by results of a sample recount, the lawyers said, citing initial figures that gave an additional 116 votes to George Bush and 272 more votes to Gore. At the very least, the Democrats said the canvassing board should count as many votes as possible by the deadline. "To be sure, some level of inconvenience is presented, but surely urgency and public necessity warrant the additional staffing and longer hours that may be needed to correctly determine our president," it concluded. "... the board's refusal to act is indefensible." © 2000 The Associated Press